Book Description

A Treatise of Human Nature Being an Attempt to introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects David Hume A Treatise of Human Nature is a book by Scottish philosopher David Hume, first published (in parts) from the end of 1738 to 1740. The full title of the Treatise is A Treatise of Human Nature: Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. It contains the following sections: Book 1: "Of the Understanding" - An investigation into human cognition. Important statements of Skepticism. Book 2: "Of the Passions" - A treatment of emotions and free will. Book 3: "Of Morals" - A treatment of moral ideas, justice, obligations, benevolence. While many scholars today consider the Treatise to be Hume's most important work and one of the most important books in the history of philosophy, the public in Britain did not at first agree. Hume himself described the (lack of) public reaction to the publication of the Treatise by writing that the book "fell dead-born from the press." Hume intended to see whether the Treatise met with success and, if so, to complete it with books devoted to morals, politics, and criticism. It did not meet with success, and so was not completed. After deciding that the Treatise had problems of style rather than of content, he reworked some of the material for more popular consumption in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748). It did not prove extremely successful either, but was somewhat more so than the Treatise. He later also "cast anew" Book 3 of the Treatise as An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), which Hume wrote is "of all my writings, historical, philosophical, or literary, incomparably the best." The Treatise is now in the public domain. Books 1 and 2 were originally published in 1738 (or 1739), while Book 3 was published in 1740.